The Wavertree, an iron-hulled windjammer built in 1885, has been a museum ship in at New York’s South Street Seaport Museum since 1969. In May, the historic ship shifted to the Caddell Dry Dock in Staten Island to undergo stabilization and restoration. The $10.6 million dollar project is one of the largest of its kind undertaken by a museum in the United States. The Wavertree was built in Southampton, England and was one of the last large sailing ships built of wrought iron. She is one of the largest iron sailing vessel afloat.
Old Salt Blog
a virtual port of call for all those who love the sea , hosted by nautical novelist Rick Spilman
Not wishing to steal anyone’s thunder but I suspect that HMS Warrior in Portsmouth historic dockyard is the largest iron ship afloat. Any other candidates ?
You are exactly right. The claim to being the largest iron sail ship afloat is wrong by a significant margin.
Thanks for posting our video, Rick.
A quick point on our superlatives. In promoting our project we often look to what makes our ship(s) special. In this case, we would humbly submit that HMS Warrior is in a different category. She was steam and sail whereas Wavertree was never fitted with propulsion machinery and is therefore exclusively a sailing ship. If we’re not mistaken, that makes her the largest afloat.
We’ve also said that this is the largest restoration project of it’s type in a generation. This, too, can be a target for those who’d like to take exception. We do try to be precise, but at times we’re targeting an audience who needs to be told how exciting an undertaking the Wavertree restoration is. The readers of this blog surely don’t fit that demographic.
Many significant restorations projects have taken place over the last twenty years but they’re different in key ways. Perhaps those projects took place in a wooden vessel, or were smaller in scope or dollars.
The real key here is that there’s amazing progress being made in the preservation of one of the last surviving riveted iron ships in the world. When it’s complete, Wavertree will be employed in teaching another generation of New Yorkers and visitors to New York about the age of sail and the port that built the United States.
We’ll look forward to welcoming maritime experts and nautical neophytes alike aboard the good ship Wavertree in mid-2016!
Why in the hell can’t enough funds to be found to save the 1895 USS Olympia, of the great ships of American history. Bad venue? The hull must get a restoration.